Pauch vs Godown – A Rivalry Renewed
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Pauch vs Godown – A Rivalry Renewed – By: Pete MacDonald
Like the NASCAR commercial from a few years ago said, “Love Your Rivals, Because You Need Somebody To Beat.” This past Saturday this came to life as Ryan Godown and Billy Pauch rekindled their rivalry both on and off the race track.
This past Saturday at New Egypt Speedway a fire was poked in the long lasting rivalry between Billy Pauch and Ryan Godown. These two have been by far the best that NES has to offer for the past several seasons with 30 out of the last 47, 358 Modified races being won by either of the pair. The rivalry mirrors Richard Petty vs. David Pearson from the 1970’s with how dominant the two are.
This past Saturday Pauch picked up his first win of the 2015 campaign, and first in nearly a year, over Godown who has five wins this season to date after Godown returned from the rear due to an over-aggressive driving call. The win was good for the sport, good for his fans and most importantly good for Pauch himself.
“I don’t like Billy and never will like Billy,” said Godown in a 2014 interview with RacersGuide.com.
There’s no question both these drivers and their fans hate each other. There was a roar from the crowd when Ryan was sent to the rear that I have never heard in my 25+ years of attending races at New Egypt Speedway.
“I was glad to see a call made tonight. He trashes me on the race track and his guys trash me in tech and I’m just tired of it,” said Pauch who is now within 14 points of Godown’s lead with just three races remaining.
There isn’t a doubt in my mind we haven’t seen the last of these two battling it out on the race track and these next three weeks are certainly going to be interesting for sure.
More race tracks need rivalries like this. It brings fan interaction to a peak and it makes the on-track product that much more exciting.
For questions, comments or concerns I can be emailed at racersguide@gmail.com or I’m on Twitter @PMacDonald51 Thanks!
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